The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t sure if LeBron James will walk away from the Cleveland Cavaliers when his contract expires next summer, but they reportedly already are trying to recruit him to L.A. should “King James” elect to relocate his kingdom.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday on “The Jump” that every move Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson have made since they took over in February has been made with both eyes on James.
“From the day they got the job they started to do it,” Wojnarowski said when asked if the Lakers have been prepping for James in 2018. “And that’s their job. Their job here is to make the Lakers a destination place again for the biggest free agents in the game. LeBron is going to be the biggest free agent in the game next year.”
One of Pelinka’s calculated moves was signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a one-year, $18 million contract. Caldwell-Pope, of course, is represented by Klutch Sports and agent Rich Paul, just like James. While Caldwell-Pope is a good young player who will bring defense and scoring to a young Lakers squad, the move was all about James.
“This is all part of the greater LeBron conversation,” Wojnarowski said. “The Lakers are going to be, just like they are in full Paul George-mode, from now until July 1 next year, the Lebron-mode has started, and it started the day they took over. ”
The Lakers also reportedly were interested in trying to lure James’ good friend Dwyane Wade to L.A. if the Chicago Bulls were interested in dealing him.
“After Dwyane Wade opted back into his contract for this year, and then Jimmy Butler got traded, and Dwyane was trying to figure out, ‘are we going to go forward together here in Chicago?’ He’s going to get his money, that $20-plus million, but the Lakers had interest to potentially trade for him, or if Dwyane got a buyout in Chicago, the Lakers absolutely would have had interest in signing him.”
The Lakers’ new brass is primed to recruit James and George to L.A. next summer, and should they succeed, the Lakers will be vaulted right back into their rightful place among the NBA’s elite teams.
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images
